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Friday, June 3, 2016

An open letter to the Green Party NC

From Brandy Baker
member, Maryland Green Party

Dear Green National Committee:

I am contacting you today to discuss Amendment 835: the Economic Democracy
Amendment which was co-sponsored by 14 state Green Parties and caucuses. There
is a small minority of GNC delegates who promise to vote the proposal down in
spite of such grassroots support. Some have vowed to violate the wishes of
their co-sponsoring states and to vote against the proposal.

In addition to the 14 state parties and caucuses who have supported Amendment
835, there is a petition circulating in support of the amendment which, in two
and a half days, has garnered over 1000 signatures. Some of the signatories are
Greens, but a surprisingly large number are not registered Greens who say that
they will join the Green Party if 835 passes.

Justin from CA says:
"Add your name to the list. Make the US Green Party take a clear and
unified anti-capitalist position. Otherwise, one might think, what's the
point?"

Carver from TX:
"Capitalism is an ethically bankrupt system that now manipulates our every
day ness."

Tim from NY:
"Reform will not fix our current system - it needs to be replaced. If the
Green Party adopts an anti-capitalist stance, they will [have] my membership
and my contributions."

Amilcar from NY:
"If this could happen I would consider joining the Green Party, and it
would be a pleasure to donate my skills to your campaigns."

Beth from VA:
"I would join the Green Party in a heartbeat if this amendment were
approved by the National Committee!"

Bob from CA:
"I was Green for many years and then I joined Peace and Freedom,
socialist/anti-capitalist. I would again like to consider Green but not as long
as it supports capitalism."

Brent from OR:
"I'll vote Green if the party is explicitly anti-Capitalist."

Hannah from MN:
"If you want to be a relevant party to 2016 you should maybe side with the
majority of millennials who don't support capitalism according to the Harvard
University Survey, but really it's your own choice to die out so
whatever."

Luke from DC:
"I would join and engage with the Green Party if this passes."

Gabriel from CA:
"I am not a member of the Green Party but this amendment would persuade me
to join and give my efforts to it. The climate is in peril. We must advance an
alternative economic vision to make the best of an increasingly ominous reality
before us."

Devon from OH:
"If the Green party rejects capitalism and adopts a platform of economic
democracy I will join the party and engage in political activism on its
behalf."

"Name Not Displayed" from MI:
"I will join the Green Party if this amendment is added, a party that is
for the people and the planet must be critical of the economic system that has
caused them such grievous harm."

Max from AK:
"I would certainly join the green party if they were to adopt an
explicitly anti capitalist position andand, hopefully, Marxism in particular.
I'm a big fan of Richard Wolff's work, and I think he's one of the best
analysts of modern capitalism. From an ecological standpoint, there's
absolutely no reform that could ever make capitalism sustainable. Any party
that calls itself "green" must attack."

Ric from CO:
"It's long overdue. If the Green were to go anti-capitalist, I'd be
all-in. This is the perfect moment... While the two capitalist parties are
crumbling under the weight of their own contradictions..."

Name Not Displayed from CA:
"I will join the party if it becomes anti-capitalist."

Farah from CA:
"would join if passed"

"Name Not Displayed" from MA:
"Would join if this was passed."

"Name Not Displayed" from CA:
"I am not currently a member of the Green Party, but I would join the
party if this amendment passes. The struggle to protect our environment and the
struggle to create a more just and democratic society are the same struggle. We
will not achieve one without the other. We will never effect a lasting change
in a system where making a profit is the primary motivation; large corporations
and the governments that they have bought will never allow this. The Green
Party has an excellent opportunity to be a true alternative that can organize
and fight for the environment and the 99%."

and Griffin from PA:
"I would join the Green Party in a heartbeat if it were to take a firm
anti-capitalist stance."

This is just a sampling of signers who support the amendment. There are also
many more who say that they will join if this passes.

Please do not let the small old guard on the GNC decide this
amendment. If all of the

GNC delegates voted and if those of you who have not chimed
in on this debate were to vote yes, this is an important battle that we could
easily win. We need the drive and energy of the many new members who would come
to the Green Party with the passing of this amendment. It would revitalize the
Green Party and make it the party of the most important social movements in this
country, including the movement to save our environment from the horrors of
capitalism.

Best,
Brandy Baker
member, Maryland Green Party

Unfortunately, a response from one of the NC members calls
these supportive comments above “Idle threats” a not very political response
and one that reveals the level of pettiness we are dealing wit. BB

1 comment:

Thank you Brandy for leading on this petition. It is very difficult to understand those who oppose the Green Party coming out against capitalism. We all know of the polls which show the high percentage of people especially those in their thirties and under who not only oppose capitalism but who favor socialism over capitalism. And this is when no major party or trade union is campaigning against capitalism or for socialism. The best i can say of those in the GP who oppose this amendment is that they are politically blind. If they get their way they will doom the party to oblivion. I say to them: Step aside and let the future through. But i say more. Capitalism will destroy life on earth as we know it. NATO, the Pentagon, the Vatican, Over 90% of the world's scientists, no left wing outfits, all agree, capitalism is hurtling the world as we know it to the edge of a precipice. Not in centuries, but in decades. This who oppose this amendment are taking their stand along with those forces who refuse to fight the capitalism which threatens life on earth as we know it. A word here on children and youth and parental responsibility. If capitalism is not ended then the children of today will have no future. It is part of our parental responsibility, our grand parental responsibility, to fight capitalism, to support the GP taking a stand against capitalism. A word here also to the top leaders of the GP. For earth's sake take a clear and strong stand. Take an open and clear and strong stand for this anti capitalist position. Do not allow yourself to be blackmailed, by the undemocratic so called consensus arguments of the pro capitalist faction. Take a stand. Come out clearly and fight. Or on this day as Ali might have said, I gotta a quarrel with capitalism. Or as Martin luther King said, as Malcolm X was evolving to say, I got a quarrel with capitalism. Sean O'Torain.